The ritual text for a Master investing an organist states: “Freemasonry, from the earliest period of its history, has availed itself of the aid of music in the performance of its rites and ceremonies.” Indeed, when Freemasons’ Hall was built in 1775 special allocations were made for the accommodation not only of an organ but also a complete orchestra both of which, with a full voice choir, performed on the occasion of the dedication of the Hall on 23 May 1776. From the early 18th century the Freemasons supported the arts. This is best reflected in the colourful and detailed posters of the period, which have become collector’s items in their own right.
    Grand Lodge officers formally attended various performances, frequently as the patrons of an event. In 1723, the year of Anderson’s Constitutions, the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane staged Love in a Forest with a dedication by the author, Brother Charles Johnson, to the Worshipful Society of Freemasons. The colourful poster advertising the comedy contains no references to Freemasonry, but the sponsorship by the fraternity is already in evidence. Our own Grand Lodge minutes record that James, 4th Lord Kingston, following his installation as Grand Master on 27 December 1728, announced his intention to attend the Old Play House. He had commissioned a performance of Henry IV with a new prologue and epilogue which was to be spoken that night on the stage in honour of Masonry for which he solicited attendance by the brethren present in Grand Lodge.
    In 1729 the Deputy Grand Master, Nathaniel Blakerby, a Justice of the Peace and very prominent citizen, ordered the printing of a Masonic prologue. This was recited following the showing of
    The Sequel of King Henry IV performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane... for the entertainment of the Society of Freemasons. The event was concluded with the singing of the Master’s Song written and composed by James Anderson and first published in his Constitutions in 1723. The posters and advertisements are often the only record that remain of some of these important social events.
    In August 1730, a new play entitled The Generous Freemason was staged in London, billed as a musical curiosity and a tragi-comi-farcical opera produced at Bartholomew Fair. Clearly patronage of the arts and the theatre in particular, by the masonic fraternity in the decades following the foundation of Grand Lodge, was very much in vogue.
    It is not easy to identify with the overall ambience of Freemasonry during this early period in our history. In the latter part of the 18th century and well into the 19th the general public saw Freemasons as staunch benefactors to the welfare of others. The number of benefit performances in support of the needy sponsored by Freemasons is to be frequently encountered as the century progressed. Eventually, although a hint of antagonism in some aspects of the performing arts did make an appearance, overall the Society continued with its support for the Arts. A three-part play in 1791 titled The World as it goes or a Cap to fit us all not only had masonic content of a light hearted nature, on the verge of ridicule, but was produced by a Freemason who also played the main part. The content of an advertising poster announced it as follows:

“An operatical piece in one act (never performed here) called The Female Free Mason Or A Peep into the Lodge room With an exhibition of the various Symbolic Emblems of Masonry, written by companion Barrington clothed in the full order of the Most Excellent Super Excellent ROYAL ARCH. Master of the Lodge: Mr Barrington - Brother Compass, Master T Barrington - Brother Square, Master R Barrington, And Mrs Busy, Mrs Barrington. The whole performance to close with THE Principles of Free Masonry Written and to be spoke by Brother Barrington”

Masonic benefit performances were wide spread throughout England. The Rodney Lodge No 351 in Kingston-upon-Hull, Yorkshire held a benefit performance for a Mr Mitchell. The performance was billed as being held by desire of The Worshipful Master and brethren of the lodge at the Theatre Royal, Hull on 31 January 1794. The performance included ‘A Transparency’ representing the GENII of the Masonic Order, unfolding a Mantle containing the Mysterious emblems of Masonry.
    The most successful production of the period associated with Freemasonry was a play entitled Harlequin Freemason. Thomas Harris produced it in 1780, with the music composed by Brother Charles Dibdin (1745-1814), a famed contemporary actor and composer to whom over 1400 songs are attributed. The first showing of Harlequin Freemason took place on 29 December 1780 and by May of the following year, just five months later, posters advertise the 51st showing of the pantomime at the Theatre Royal in Covent Garden, London.
    The storyline is quite simple. The hero in the play is a ghost of Hiram Abif. He gives life to a stone statue of Harlequin who marries Columbine, the beautiful daughter of a Dutch Shylock. One of the advertising leaflets distributed by the Theatre Company and dated May 17, 1781 has an interesting addendum. After listing the principal characters of the main play, the text continues: “To conclude with a procession of the principal Grand-Masters, from the creation to the present century, dressed in the habits of their respective ages and countries.” Although not totally derogatory, the procession had a tendency toward the ridiculous. This period, toward the end of the century, was a turning point in the public’s attitude to the Freemasons’ involvement with the theatre. A totally positive disposition toward the fraternity gradually developed into a more aggressive ridicule of the Craft. Harlequin Freemason and the concluding procession were clearly a great success and performed many times at frequent intervals following other plays totally unrelated to Freemasonry.
    On October 3, 1781, for instance, a leaflet publicising a comedy entitled The Chance ends with “..after which will be performed a Pantomime called ‘Harlequin Free-Mason’, followed by the usual procession. One performance is recorded in the USA, another in Dublin for the benefit of distress’d and sick Freemasons and another, in January 1781, was presented by command of their Majesties King George III and his consort.